Petr89

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So Swenson came up while I was typing. Would it really have been "really good" for him to be locked into a program that no longer wanted him? From the perspective of a Michigan Degree, sure. But I think the vast majority of kids getting offered by the Michigans of the football world have football goals beyond college and would take a chance to see the football field with Iowa over riding the pine in Ann Arbor, degrees notwithstanding.

I could be swayed either way here...I think there are arguments on both sides. My reservations (other than the no-out-clause issue) mostly center around the presumed benefit of locking these recruits and programs to each other.

I'm forgetting his name currently but let's imagine the OL recruit from Illinois who we apparently soured on (Swenson) signed an early LOI. A year later, correctly or not, our staff decides that he has not developed into a player that they think will contribute to the program. As much as many of us didn't really enjoy the "bad look" of us cutting the kid loose, it does seem like that would be preferable to the no-win situation of both the recruit and the school locked in to each other. He'd have to sit out a year or come into a program that doesn't value him and would have little chance to see the field.

At that point the school has lost a scholarship spot and the kid has lost his chance to see the field and it sucks for everybody. I think the rule would cut down on over-signing, but there'd be some not-insignificant "baby with the bathwater" effect with recruits/schools getting mutually screwed when life happens and things just don't work out with an otherwise "legitimate" offer.

I suppose the easy response is "well, don't offer the kid if you're not sure," which...OK.

I love that he said it twice, without humor and in earnest: "play, coach, and die." I'm sorta flummoxed by all the attention to the uniform silliness and then a gem like that flies under the radar. It's not quite "the team" x3, but it's pretty fucking great.

I tend to agree with those that are cynical of the NBA's motives here, but it is interesting that whatever profit-maximizing calculation they've made landed on the side of the LGBTQ (or whatever the current abbreviation is) community and its allies.

If you, as most that have posted thus far, are against the law in North Carolina, then, regardless of the NBA's motivation, this should be encouraging. People tend to vote with their dollars.

This is very tangentially related to the relative viability of professional women's sports among the big four. I think it's safe to say, as laughable as the WNBA is to many, that basketball has the greatest cross-sex (gender?) appeal. I may be making a false equivalency here, but I'd guess that people who support women's athletics in traditionally male-dominated sports also tend to be against NC's law.

I'm rambling, but I find this stuff interesting. After basketball, it's seems to a big drop off in terms of the popularity of women's sports (among "the big four"). I think "football" is a clear loser. Softball is more popular than hockey, but is it really baseball? I'd put hockey second but I love hockey, live close to Canada, was somewhat disturbingly aroused by the recent gold-medal-winning ladies smoking cigars and drinking cans of beer on the ice and in full uniform.

Don't know....but I think it's safe to say Detroit has the worst pedestrians in the country when adjusted for density. I spent four years weaving around people just randomly walking in the middle of Woodward on my daily commute from Ferndale.

Side note: I was lucky enough to spend a few weeks with a friend's family in Beirut and the driving there is f*cking nuts. Bombed out street lights that never got fixed result in an insane game of chicken at every intersection. I saw a 12 year old kid on a moped going the wrong direction on a freeway (in a lane...not on the shoulder) with one arm extended behind him manually towing another kid on a broken down moped.

Side side note: cyclists in Amsterdam! Saw a woman riding her bike through throngs of people/cars/bikes downtown one handed while serenely breastfeeding an infant with her other hand.

I did a couple of weeks in NZ on the South Island a couple years ago. Went by myself but joined a group via the guide company "Active Adventures." Did a 3-4 day/night hike up in the mountains to Lake Angelus, sea kayaked in a few places (including Milford Sound), skydiving and bungee jumping in Queenstown, some very light mountain biking, and a few day hikes.

The tour company was expensive as hell but a good mix of actually getting out there and doing stuff without having to plan too much or be extremely proficient at outdoorsy-stuff. Mostly middle-aged couples in my group, but a few younger single people and one awesome early 70's hippy couple. Some of the middle-aged women were NOT outdoorsy/athletic and managed OK. Pretty cool company if that's the kind of thing you're looking for.

Back in 2010, I had 5 months off between finishing school and starting my career and planned to thru-hike the AT. Made it about 300 miles in the dead of winter before my buddy got frostbite and I wimped out on going ahead alone. Saw literally 4 other people on trail in those 6 weeks. Had an absolute blast though and it's still one of the coolest things I've ever done. I kept a journal at the time which I thought/think was/is a pretty good read. Might be of interest to anyone who wants to kill an hour (especially relevant to those who might think of going in the winter (spoiler alert: mountains are cold in the winter...even in Georgia/North Carolina/Tennessee). I'd be happy to answer any specific questions about my experience if anybody's interested.

Journal link: http://the-at-bjournal.tumblr.com/

(you have to click through to the last page to start at the beginning...it posts in reverse chronological order)

(the second half of the journal is what I did after I got off trail...not really relevant to the OP)

(for anybody serious about trying/planning a thru-hike, whiteblaze.net is an invaluable resource)

I'm not really a car guy. I love driving my new zippy stickshift but couldn't really explain the first thing about how it works. I think the audio guys would be less likely to have the right equipment as its not just for the radio but pretty much diagnostics/settings for the whole car (and if they did, they'd probably charge just as much).

I have a sense that there's a pretty decent group of VW/GTI enthusiasts out there and I thought maybe I'd be lucky enough to find one on here with his/her own VCDS thing-a-ma-bob.

Here's a quick blurb from the wiki page which I think addresses the question of "share-ability:"

VCDS will perform most of the functions of the expensive electronic diagnostic tools available only to official dealers, like the current VAS 505x series diagnostic tools.[4][6] In the past, these dealership-only tools have prevented owners, and many small independent repair shops from performing some fundamental tasks, such as diagnosing problems, diesel ignition timing, modification of convenience options such as automatic door unlocking, coding a replacement electronic control unit (ECU) or key to the vehicle, and monitoring of many vehicle sensors for diagnosing problems.[6] Unlike generic on-board diagnostics (OBD-II or EOBD), VCDS uses the more in-depth Volkswagen Group-specific manufacturer protocol commands,[5] which allows the user to access all diagnostic capable vehicle systems — even in vehicles which are not covered by generic OBD-II/EOBD (e.g. pre-1996). In general, there are two ways to use this software, either as a package (software and hardware) distributed by the manufacturer or their agents, or, by building your own interface hardware and using it with the publicly available but limited shareware version of the software.

2004 Buick Rendezvous circa 2006. On the way from A2 to Rochester for rehearsal dinner with fiance and two bridesmaids dressed to the nines. Total blowout of one of the tires. Ended up changing the damn thing in rush hour, in my best suit, on the side of 696, with histrionics from the bride-to-be the whole time.

Not a good omen for the relationship. In retrospect, I probably wouldv'e been better off if I had lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a fiery Bolivia.

Just bought an '09 VW GTI and fiddled with the stereo a bit. Apparently I need some cable/software interface to "flash" the radio setting called VAGCOM/VCDS. My understanding is it takes 3 minutes but the dealership charges $150.

Any MGoBrethren in SE MI have the VCDS hookup and 15 spare minutes to help a guy out?

Seaholm Class of 2000 shout out to Demorest. We actually got in a fight in middle school which lasted about twenty seconds. I think I started it and Matt ended it (I weighed 70 pounds and Matt was a bit stockier.) He's probably a decent guy 'cause instead of beating the crap out of me he just held me down until I calmed down. Anyway, good luck to him.

There was recently an interview on avclub.com with Sherilyn Fenn (actress who played Audrey Horne). Billy Zane and Heather Graham's roles (which totally sucked the life out of season 2) were created because Lara Flynn Boyle was dating Kyle Machlachlan and was jealous of the relationship of "Cooper and Audrey." There's always been a lot of whispers of behind the scenes issues during season 2, not the least of which was getting cancelled.

Incidentally, I named my dog Special Agent Dale Cooper. And Audrey Horne was smoking.

My guess would be that he's a 17/18 year old kid who has the opportunity to travel around the country, gets to hear a bunch of famous adults telling him how awesome he is and how much they like him, and gets to hang out with the most popular guys at major colleges.

If I was in between my junior and senior year of high school, I would absolutely go check out the college girls for a summer. Especially when you consider some of the more...ummm...adult recruiting tactics that allegedly occur in SEC country. I say more power to him: enjoy the ride over the summer, get back to football in the fall, and commit then.